Quantitative multi-species hydrocarbon metrology in gas pipelines -- enhancing commercialization potential by extension to new laser wavelengths

原始项目概述：准确监测石油储藏中天然气的组成和流量对于开采公司量化其油气田的产能至关重要。我们的新项目“天然气管道中的多组份碳氢化合物定量计量”(ST/T000635/1)为将宽带高分辨率中红外光谱技术集成到传统气体流量计中率先推向市场的系统提供了机会。该项目得到了行业合作伙伴GM Flow Ltd.(干气计量领域的领先者)和Chromacity Ltd.(可调谐激光制造商)的直接和实物捐助的支持，并寻求使用来自现有3-4微米激光器的光纤传输光来量化生产储油层管道中输送的气态烷烃的丰度。该项目方法利用了高分辨率傅里叶变换激光光谱学和一种创新的基线提取算法，这两种算法都来自较早的STFC项目(ST/P00699X/1)，该项目导致了最近的专利申请和期刊论文。宽带中红外光由作为高分辨率傅里叶变换光谱仪的扫描迈克尔逊干涉仪进行调制。然后，这种光被光纤耦合，用来询问被采样到流量计计量单元中的气体。我们独特的算法被用来提取当前多种气体的浓度。Heriot-Watt将管理该项目，并负责与多种气体光谱仪相关的硬件和软件开发，并将与以下三个合作伙伴合作：*GM Flow制造流量计，用于“干气”市场，并将设计一个集成模块，独特地允许在流量计上进行现场气体成分采样和光谱分析。*Chromacity，一家制造近至中红外飞秒激光器的HWU分支公司，将引领激光、光谱仪、传输光纤、气体流量计和软件。*南安普顿大学将提供新的“空气制导”中红外光纤，补充商业上可用的实心光纤，并有可能提供卓越的远距离传输特性。总结拟议的资本设备和IT将提供的附加值：我们向STFC提出的请求是为Chromacity Spark-OPO的变种提供65%的资金，在2.4-3.1微米区域提供宽带覆盖。Heriot-Watt和Chromacity分别获得了25%和10%的联合资金。我们最初的项目建议书预计将为大气光谱学的早期STFC项目购买3-4微米宽带激光器，在该项目中，较弱的环境浓度(例如1.8ppm CH4)需要波长与最强的分子截面对齐。虽然IPS项目可以继续使用这种激光器，但用拟议的较短波长光源取代以前指定的激光器有相当大的好处，即：a.由于截面降低100倍，避免了线饱和，从而提高了测量精度。B.由于较低的光谱干扰，提高了物种的分辨率，再次提高了准确度。C.由于存在对硫化氢和二氧化碳的吸收，将敏感性扩展到其他重要物种。D.这些新功能带来的额外商业价值，包括对浓度数据的更高置信度，对安全关键和剧毒的硫化氢的监测，以及通过二氧化碳信息监测储油层质量。E.通过为项目配备专用激光光源而不是与其他授权人员共享激光光源来加速实验室研究。总而言之，转移到这个波长波段现在可以分析天然气的所有主要成分，除了氮气(一种非红外活性气体，目前的浓度为5%)。

SUMMARY OF THE ORIGINAL PROJECT:Accurately monitoring the composition and flow-rate of natural gas from a petroleum reservoir is critical for extraction companies to quantify the productivity of their oil and gas fields. Our new project "Quantitative multi-species hydrocarbon metrology in gas pipelines" (ST/T000635/1) identified an opportunity for a first-to-market system integrating broadband, high-resolution mid-infrared spectroscopy into a conventional gas-flow meter. The project is supported by >£400K direct and in-kind contributions from industrial partners GM Flow Ltd. (a leader in dry-gas metering) and Chromacity Ltd. (a tunable laser manufacturer), and seeks to use fibre-delivered light from a pre-existing 3 - 4um laser to quantify the abundance of gaseous alkanes carried in pipelines from the production reservoir. The project methodology exploits high-resolution Fourier-transform laser spectroscopy and an innovative baseline-extraction algorithm, both emerging from an earlier STFC project (ST/P00699X/1), which resulted in a recent patent application and journal paper. Broadband mid-IR light is modulated by a scanning Michelson interferometer functioning as a high-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer. This light is then fibre-coupled and used to interrogate gas sampled into a metrology cell at a flow meter. Our unique algorithm is used to extract the concentrations of the multiple gas species present.Heriot-Watt will manage the project and take responsibility for the hardware and software development associated with the multi-species gas spectrometer, and will collaborate with three partners as follows:* GM Flow manufacture flow meters for the "dry gas" market, and will engineer an integrated module that uniquely allows in-situ gas composition sampling and spectroscopy at the flow meter.* Chromacity, a HWU spin-out manufacturing near- to mid-IR femtosecond lasers, will lead the system integration of the laser, spectrometer, delivery-fibre, gas flow meter and software.* Southampton University will provide new "airguided" mid-IR fibres, complementing commercially available solid-core fibres and potentially offering superior long-range transmission characteristics.SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED CAPITAL EQUIPMENT AND THE ADDED VALUE IT WILL PROVIDE:Our request to STFC is for 65% funding of a variant of a Chromacity Spark-OPO, providing broadband coverage across the 2.4-3.1-um region. Co-funding of 25% from Heriot-Watt and 10% from Chromacity has been secured. A formal quotation is provided.Our original project proposal anticipated re-purposing a 3-4-um broadband laser purchased for an earlier STFC project in atmospheric spectroscopy, where the weak ambient concentrations (e.g. 1.8 ppm CH4) require wavelengths aligned to the strongest molecular cross-sections. While the IPS project could proceed with this laser, there are considerable benefits from replacing the previously earmarked laser with the proposed shorter-wavelength source, namely: a. Avoiding line saturation, due to the 100x lower cross-sections, thus improving measurement accuracy. b. Improving species distinguishability, due to lower spectral interference, again improving accuracy. c. Extending sensitivity to other important species, due to the presence of absorptions for H2S and CO2. d. The added commercial value introduced by these new features, including higher confidence in the concentration data, monitoring of safety critical and highly toxic H2S, and monitoring of reservoir quality through the CO2 information. e. The acceleration of lab research enabled by having a dedicated laser source for the project, rather than one shared with another grant.In summary, moving to this wavelength band would now allow ALL of the main components of natural gas to be analysed, with the exception of N2 (a non-infrared active gas presnt at <5% concentration).